How to deal with Crona
by Crimsonhero10
Summary: Maka Albarn Finally gets the job that she has wanted for as long as she can remember. When she arrives, she is told that she is going to be taking care of Crona, who has stayed at the centre longer than any other. (Friendship, no pairings...yet)
1. First Day

**This is my first fanfiction on this site (or any site) so please don't be too harsh when reviewing. **

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Chapter 1: The first day

My alarm went off at exactly 6:00 am, but I was already awake before then, I could hardly sleep at all, which isn't a good thing…but I couldn't help it. It was my _first day_, my first day doing a job that I absolutely love. I got up immediately, had a shower and got dressed in my smartest clothes, I then rushed downstairs and out the door, not even bothering to sit down and eat, being far too excited to sit down and eat.

/

After 15 minutes of riding on the bus, I finally arrived to the Shini centre for dysfunctional kids, a place where children with difficulty blending in with society are taken and taught how to. I walked into the entrance and was greeted with a familiar voice "Ahh, Good Morning, Great to see you! Ms Albarn, was it? Nice and early I see!" The person greeting me was the founder, Mr Shini. He founded the centre when he realised his son had O.C.D, which caused him allot of trouble. "Good morning Mr Shini, Is anyone else here?' I asked looking around to see the area around me was completely devoid of people. "Maybe some of the janitors, but other than them it's just you and me!"

"O-oh, really? I guess I should just…sit down and wait then" I said, my face starting to feel hot out of embarrassment, I can't believe how stupid I was, getting up so early. "Don't be so embarrassed! Getting up early shows your dedication!"

'Thank you, Mr Shini' I said, Feeling slightly less stupid due to Mr Shinis words.

/

After waiting for around 2 hours, everyone was there, and we were all called to meet. In front of us, A grey-haired man wearing round glasses started to talk "Alright everyone, stop talking and listen to me, You're all here because you passed a test, hopefully you don't think that's the easy-"

He was cut off when a white haired man rushed into the room, looking completely exhausted, most likely from running all the way here 'S….sorry, my dumbass alarm didn't go off. So not cool…" He said, still catching his breath. "Yes, 'so not cool' indeed. Tell me why did your alarm not go off exactly?'

"I…uh…broke it." He said, a nervous smile spreading across his face, which quickly turned into a frown when he met with the doctors' deathly glare. How lazy can you be anyway? 'Anyway, now that you're all here, I guess you should start with your jobs, there's a board outside, find your name and go to where you have to go. I'm Dr Stein if you need me just find me okay? Now get going."

Everyone started to move out of the room, but when I reached the door I was called by Dr Stein "Hey, Ms Albarn." I turned around to see Dr Stein walking towards me "I want you to come with me." Somewhat curious for what he had in store for me, I timidly followed him outside and to the hall.


	2. Crona

**This is my second Chapter of my fan fiction, hope you enjoy it.**

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Chapter 2: Meeting Crona

I followed Dr Stein until we reached a door; I looked in the room through the window, seeing a pink-haired boy curled up in the corner. "This is Crona; I want you to take care of him"

"Why me? Shouldn't you have someone with more experience do this?" I asked. Crona was one of the few people in the centre that had to live there, as their problems were too big.

He looked at me with ice-cold eyes "We've already tried, but no one has been able to even talk to him, we thought someone who was closer to his age would help him open up, and you _did _get a perfect score"

"I guess I have no choice then, I'll do it." I said, sighing.

"I'm glad you understand, Ms Albarn." Stein said, a small smile forming. "Now then, I should tell you some things about Crona first. The corner he's always in is his 'safe zone', do _not_ try to take him out of it, or else he'll start to panic, don't get too close to him either and always keep a soft, quiet tone."

"Is that all?"

"That's all; I doubt you'll have a problem with keeping him calm, it's getting him to talk."

"Okay, I understand, you can go now if you want."

"Try your best." Dr Stein walked passed me at a quick pace, I guess he had something important.

/

I walked up to the door and placed my hand on the handle, I just stood there for a moment to breath. I can't believe it! I'm finally going to do this! I opened the door and saw the room fully; it was bare, with no furniture other than a chair, wardrobe and a bed, because Crona was one of the extreme cases, he had to stay here. "Excuse me?" I said making sure to make my voice was as soft as possible. He looked up slightly, and then put his head back down, showing he had noticed me. "I'm Ms Albarn; I'm here to help you." He didn't look up again. I walked up to him and kneelt down near him, but not too near, the floor was extremely uncomfortable and my bum was starting to hurt after only a few minutes. "It's kinda uncomfortable here; do you want me to get you a pillow?" He didn't react. Realising that there was no reason to stay on the floor, I got up and sat on the bed instead. Around 10 minutes had passed, and still nothing, not even a whisper. "Do you want to play a game? I can get one if you want." Still no reaction from him" I gave a quiet sigh, I was getting absolutely nowhere.

/

An hour had passed and it was time for a break, "I'm going to leave now, but I'll be back later, 'kay?" Crona looked up; I took this as a positive sign. "You've been in here for a while; do you want to come outside for a bit?

"P…p…pass" he whispered, barely finishing the single word he said. "Okay, see you in a little while" I got up and left the room, letting out a huge sigh after closing the door.

/

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**Okay, this will probably be it for today, more will be released soon.**


	3. Failure

**Thank you for the reviews, keep them coming I really appreciate it.**

Chapter3: Failure

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I walked slowly through the hall, which was empty apart from the paintings on the walls. I can't believe how bad that was, how bad _I_ was, and I feel like I've failed Dr Stein. When I entered the break room I saw the white haired boy that was late, sitting on the sofa, drinking water from a bottle. I wandered over and let myself fall onto the chair next to him letting out a groan. "What the hell's wrong with you? It hasn't even been a day yet and you already look exhausted." He said, wiping the water that had leaked out of his mouth and down his chin. "I was assigned to take care of one of the children that live here due to having a perfect score" I said as I lazily fixed my hair

"Really? I thought I was having trouble, what does this kid do? Is he violent?

"He doesn't do anything."

"Then why the hell do you look like That then?" He said, pointing at the expression on my face.

"Because, Dr Stein told me to help him open up, try to get him to talk, but when I went in there he didn't say a single word up until the very end, I didn't think it would be so hard…ever since I was a child I've been able to talk to anyone, but for him, I have no idea.."

"Name."

"Huh?" I looked up to the white haired boy in confusion

"Y'know! Your name? The thing every human being has?"

"Oh, it's Maka, Maka Albarn"

"Alright, listen Maka; this kid hasn't talked in ages I'm guessing?"

"Y-yeah, he's been here for years yet has hardly spoken to anyone."

"Well, what makes you think he's gonna start talking to someone who he's never even met? To solve a problem you have to find the starting point, that's why mom said."

"But how do I get him to talk in the first place? I don't know anything about him!"

"Sorry, can't help you with that, I have to get back now, see ya" He got up and walked to the door, then I realised, I never got his name!

"Wait, you never told me your name."

Soul turned around and smiled, showing a toothy grin "Heh, its Soul, Soul Ev"

"Evans…"

/

Soul turned to see Dr Stein, walking up to him; he froze in place due to the doctor's Ice-cold stare.

"A little birdy told me you got Ms Nakatsukasa to look after your class so you could take a break; I see that it was correct"

Soul Wriggled and slowly moved back, trying to be free from the doctor's grip, but it was hopeless. "W-w-well…yeah, I did do that; she didn't seem to mind though, and there aren't any problems are there?"

"No, Ms Nakatsukasa, while being somewhat nervous, can have a very firm hand when the time calls for it."

"o-oh, that's…That's good, I'll just be going now…" Soul tried to leave the room, but was stopped

"Mr Evans…I was a surgeon once...but I was fired, do you know why?"

"Uhh, you were scared of blood?"

"I was fired as they believed I was dissecting patients in their sleep, but they had no proof against me, so I couldn't be arrested"

"Tha-That's obviously not true…"Stein bowed down slightly, so he was at eye-level with soul

"Mr Evans I'll let you off, as it's your first day, but if something like this happens again I'll show you whether it's true or not, understand?"

Soul was noticeably shivering "S-s-s-so Sorry Dr Stein it'll never happen again I swear!"

"Good, now go."

Soul Ran out of the room as quick as he could, I could hear his feet stomp on the floor at a rapid pace. Stein turned around and saw me sitting there on the chair "Oh, sorry you saw that didn't you?"

"Yeah…you were lying, right?" as soon as the words came out of my mouth, he started to laugh.

"Don't worry; I just say that to scare newcomers! The biggest thing I've dissected was a dead frog!" He said, still laughing all the way through, which just creeped me out more. After laughing for a good minute, he calmed down, got a glass of water and sat down. "So, how was it with Crona?"

"Not good, he didn't say anything to me until the last minute" I said, looking down to avert Dr Stein's gaze, so I didn't see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Really? He said something? What did he say?" I looked up in surprise.

"I could barely hear it, it was so quiet, but I think he said 'pass'. "

"Well, its progress, even a single word is an improvement; I knew persuading Mr Shini was the right thing to do"

"You persuaded him?"

"Yeah, He wanted you to do what the others were doing, but I thought you were capable of more, I'm glad to see that I was right."

"But, I don't know what to do…"

"You have potential Ms Albarn, you'll find a way, I know you will" I was slightly embarrassed by this, and could feel my face starting to warm up. "Well, I should get going now, See you" He got up and started to walk to the door

"See you Dr Stein and thanks"

"No Problem" He didn't turn around, instead raising his hand to his head. After Dr Stein left, I was All Alone in the break room; there was no real reason to go back to Crona now, if I couldn't find a way to reach out to him then I would end up getting nowhere. So I sat down, and went into deep thought, trying to find out how to get Crona to talk.

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**Okay, Chapter 3 done. I'm trying to increase my word count for each chapter, as I was noticing how short the chapters were. Unfortunately, school will be starting again, meaning chapters will be released less frequently. I hope you continue to read on though.**


	4. Questions

Chapter 4: question

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I spent a good 20 minutes in the break room alone, well, maybe a few people entered, but I didn't notice them, I was too busy thinking. How could I get Crona to start talking? I should probably do what soul said and find the starting point, there's no point in finding out his interests if I can't get him to say anything other than pass. I walked in, and said 'excuse me' to him, nothing wrong there, then I said 'I'm Ms Albarn, I'm here to help you' There was nothing really wrong with what I said, but there was nothing right about it either, maybe I should be more forceful? No, that isn't the right wa of saying it, I should try to make more of an impact. Deciding this was the solution, I ran out of the break room and ran to Cronas room…or at least I would have, if I didn't crash into someone shortly after leaving, I fell on the floor and a pile of paper, most likely documents fell all over the floor.

"Oh no, I'm really sorry I wasn't looking, I should have been paying more attention…" I hastily picked up the paper that had fallen and scattered around the floor.

"It's fine." From the voice, the person I had run into was obviously a woman, and had an almost sickeningly sweet voice. I stood up, giving her the papers. She had dirty blond hair that was in a very odd style, her bangs were entwined into one in the front, but her oddest feature was her eyes, they were gold, and almost like a snakes. "I'm sorry, have we met before?"

"Oh, I'm Ms Albarn, it's my first day here." I said, somewhat nervous, she was rather intimidating.

"ah...one of the new caretakers…"she looked at me with contempt, which was quickly covered with a warm and friendly face "I'm Dr Gorgon…excuse me for asking, but what exactly do you do here? I haven't seen you in any classes."

"Um…well…Dr Stein assigned me to work with Crona."

"Really? I would have never thought Dr Stein would have been so risky." That obviously wasn't the word she was thinking of saying.

"I-I guess it is kinda risky…" This was unbearable; it was as if her eyes were staring through my soul…

"Well, I'm sure you have something that needs to be done, I'll leave you to it" She slowly walked past me and down the corridor. When I knew she was gone, I let out a deep breath, that was awful, everything about her made me want to just run away from her. What was I supposed to be doing again? I was going to Crona wasn't I? Yeah. I regained my composure, and walked to Cronas room.

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I was in front of the door that leads into Cronas room, taking a deep breath. Make an impact, make an impact…I entered his room to see him still sitting in the corner on the hard floor. I walked up to him and kneeled down in front of him. "Hi." He looked up slightly, it was now or never… "I believe we got off on the wrong start, so…my name's Maka, what's yours?" He looked at me in confusion, but then fidgeted a bit "C…Crona" alright that's good, he can say his name even if it was just a whisper.

"Alright, so Crona, how about we get to know each other? I'll ask you some questions, is that okay?"

"Umm"

"If you feel like you can't answer one, just say pass." He gave a little nod.

"Okay, so Crona… how old are you? I'm 19."

"…16"

I kept asking him questions. He answered a few of them, but avoided the rest, either saying pass, or staying silent. Eventually it was time to go. "I have to go now Crona." I got up and walked to the door, before I left, I turned around. "Bye" I waited for a reaction, and got a small wave. I smiled slightly, opened the door and left. As I was walking out of the building, I heard a familiar voice

"Hey, Maka." I turned around to see Soul jogging towards me

"Hi Soul, how as your first day?"

"Not bad, this one kid though, Patti, was a nightmare, I didn't know who she would kill first, me or her...yours?"

"Pretty good, I've managed to get Crona to say a few things, not allot though."

"Well, baby steps I guess, can't expect him to start giving out speeches…"

"yeah, well, I feel like I'm on the right track… did you meet Dr Gorgon?"

"…who?"

"Dr Gorgon, you know, Very tall? Weird hair? Snake like eyes?

"Oh! Yeah. God, something about her was just not right, and I swear she was mocking under that motherly tone of hers."

"I thought she was just mad at me or something for walking into her, glad I'm not the only one she's like that to." We walked until I reached the bus stop. "Well, this is my stop."

"See ya." Soul slowly walked away, with his hands in his pockets. I waited a couple minutes for the bus, when it came I paid the bus driver and sat down at the back, thinking about what I should do tomorrow.

/

As soon as I got home, I walked upstairs and changed into something more comfortable. Maybe I should wear something like this at work… to make Crona more comfortable round me. I then heard a knock at the front door. "Just a minute" I shouted, rushing down the stairs to answer. When I opened the door, I was met with a shameful sight. My father, spirit, was drunk and had a woman in skimpy clothing helping him stand up…again. "Uh hi…I-is this your father?" The woman had purple hair and a nervous smile across her face. "Yes…" I frowned "hurry up and get in before people start to notice." The purple haired woman nodded and came into the house, more or less dragging Spirit inside with her. I took him off her hands and started to walk upstairs to put him in his room "just make yourself comfortable." She nodded and walked into the living room. I walked to Spirits room and turned on the lights "Oh…hay Maka…where's the pretty girl?" Damnit…I was hoping he would be asleep… "The pretty girl drove you home" I gave him a strained and false smile.

"Oh. You're such a-such a good girl maka…" I could smell the alcohol on his breath… I walked to his bed; the pictures of my mother were gone, most likely trashed in a rage or hid away. "Maka?"

"Yeah?" Not this again…

"Why did Mommy leave?" Because you were and still are a stupid flirt who refused to change.

"I don't know." I sat him on the bed.

"I didn't do anything wrong, maka…" _Liar_.

"I know, dad" I took of his shoes.

"y-you still love me and…and mommy, right?"…I don't know anymore.

"yes, of course I do, now get some sleep, you'll feel better later."

"Alright…Good night Maka" It was only 4:30 PM

"Good night." I turned off the light and went back down stairs; the woman was in the living room, looking at the various ornaments and pictures. "Do you want some coffee or something?" She jumped and turned around "Uh sorry, but I can't stay… I was just told to drive him here and come straight back to the bar"

"Well…Can I have your phone number?" She looked quite shocked.

"What!? S-sorry I don't go that way...thanks though."

"What? No… I have a job and if we have each other's phone number then you could call me when this happens again so I can come back home …" I said, my hand on my face.

"Oh, yeah that makes sense." She got her mobile phone out, which was noticeably higher quality than mine, not that I cared. "My name's Blair Kanat"

"Maka Alabrn" I got my more primitive mobile phone out, we then exchanged numbers. She then left. Spirit being drunk was common now, ever since Mother left, he started going to that dumb bar and drink his troubles away rather than trying to be mature about it. And my mother just disappeared without a trace. I haven't even got a card from her… with a sigh; I slumped onto a chair and just sat there. All the positive feelings washed away by sadness and disappointment.

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**Well, Chapter 4 is done, sorry about this taking so long, I'll try to update faster next time.**


	5. Second day

Chapter 5: Second day

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I woke up at 7 AM; I set the alarm later to not be extremely early like last time. I got out of my bed and went to my closet to decide on what to wear. I was going to wear something more casual for Crona right? But then again, what Crona wore, from what I've seen anyway, wasn't casual. Might as well, at worst he may not even notice. I eventually decided on a simple sweater and jeans and wore my hair in pigtails. I went downstairs to leave. "Maka, wait." Spirit called me from the living room; I was hoping I could leave before he would notice. "Sit down, have some breakfast." He suggested, obviously wanting to talk. "You should eat something before leaving" He had a warm yet somewhat strained smile across his face.

"Erm…no, I should get going, they have coffee there anyway…" I wasn't actually sure of this, I never saw any…but I didn't care, I just wanted to leave and not have another unwanted conversation with him, I shouldn't be so uncomfortable talking to my father, but ever since she left it's like my relationship with him disappeared along with her.

"O-oh" He was still smiling, but it looked even more strained than before, and his eyes were filled with sadness. "Well, go then, I don't want to make you late."

"Okay…Bye" I grabbed my key and bag and went to the front door to leave.

"See you honey" I cringed when he said that, luckily he didn't notice. I quickly walked out the door before anything else could be said. It's hard to talk to him, at least when he's sober. I rushed to the bus stop to not avoid the bus; luckily I was 5 minutes early for it. As I standing there, I suddenly felt something, as if someone was spying on me. I looked all around me, but didn't see anyone suspicious. Must have been my imagination… "Excuse me." I turned around to see a man with spiky brown hair looking at me pleadingly. From his clothes, he must have been a homeless person. "Can you spare me some change? I haven't eaten in a few days and you look like a sweet girl, so…please?" He looked at me with pleading eyes and a faint smile spread along his lips

"Of course!" I rummaged through my bag and picked up my purse, taking a few coins and giving it to the man. What type of person would I be if I refused?

"Thank you so much" The man bowed his head slightly, giving a grin that showed shark-like teeth and as almost as soon as he appeared he was gone. The bus soon came after.

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I walked into centre at 7:45 AM, there were more caretakers than last time, but it was still pretty early. "Ah, Ms Albarn Great to see ya! You're a bit later than usual." usual? It's my Second day…

"I set my alarm later, I felt like being here that early was just a waste." I said in a polite yet friendly manner.

"Oh, well I see your point, I like to be an early bird myself!" He said, still having this goofy smile on his face…I wonder if his son is like this…

"W-well, I should start to get ready, excuse me." I tried to walk past him but he stopped me with his hand.

"Nonsense! You still have time; I want you to meet my son!" With a goofy smile on his face he looked around the room. "Ah, there you are! Kid, C'mere. I want you to meet someone!" He said this while waving, facing to my right. When his son came I was shocked, he looked exactly like him! The only major difference was the height and the clothes he were wearing. "This here, is Ms Albarn." He said this while pointing at me.

"Hello, I am Kid Shini. You can just call me kid, though." Unlike his appearance, his personality was completely different from his fathers. He was polite, composed, and didn't make any wild gestures like his father.

"I'm Maka Albarn, you can call me Maka though." I shook his hand.

"Well, I'll let you two talk and whatnot, I better be going, still have work to do!" He merrily walked away.

"You father is…odd, isn't he?" He sighed, but still had a small, natural smile on his lips.

"Yes, he most certainly is, he had me meet everyone here before you came." He adjusted on of the rings on his middle finger. "But, he is very well liked by everyone, and in all honesty, I can't really talk, can I?" He snickered. "Well, I'm sure you have something important you have to do, so I'll leave you to it."

"Okay, see you." I started to walk away when I was stopped. I turned to see it was Kid again. He started to undo my left pigtail.

"Uh…what are you doing?" I asked him in confusion, all I could see was his face, which was focused on my hair.

"All…done." He let go, rubbed and then clasped his hands. "Your pigtails were asymmetrical, I fixed it for you…Sorry if I bothered you" He said sheepishly, looking away in embarrassment. I forgot that he had O.C.D, up until then he was completely normal.

"Don't be. Thank you for doing so." I felt around my hair, it didn't seem like it was in a different position, he must have good eyesight.

"You're welcome." He lowered his head slightly, and raised his hand in a casual manner "Ah, I'm wasting your time. Go, before you're late." He walked past me and walked out the building, smoothly avoiding the people entering. I gave a small wave and started to walk to the break room. I hope they have coffee there…

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When I entered the break room I noticed two things, Soul was here, sitting on the sofa, and there _was_ coffee, thank god. I instantly grabbed a mug, placed it on the counter and poured the dark hot liquid into it. I then walked over to soul and sat next to him and took a sip. "Hi soul." He turned his head to look at me.

"Hey ma…" He looked at me blankly for a second, and then placed his hand on his mouth, trying to hold back a laugh.

"What? Is there something on my face?" I said while moving my hand around my face to find what was making him laugh.

"Y…Your hair…W-why is it in pigtails!?" He was still laughing, why was this so funny to him!?

"I like it that way" I replied, giving him a stern look. He was starting to annoy me… he finally started to calm down.

"But it's so childish." he said, placing his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. Obviously he was trying to act cool.

"Well, at least my hair doesn't look like I just got out of bed." I took another sip of the coffee.

"Whatever it looks cool, I mean how old are you anyway?" He said this as If he was half-asleep, with only one eye lazily opened. I decided to use this rhetorical question to surprise him.

"19." I said in a cheery tone, a smirk across my face.

"See? You're way too old to…" He paused, opened his eyes and just...sat there silently for a while. I had almost finished the coffee I was drinking when he finally started to talk again. "19!? YOU'RE 19!? YOU CAN'T EVEN LEGALLY DRINK AND YOU'VE ALREADY GOT A JOB LIKE THIS!?" He Yelled. Everyone in the room turned around to look at him, with faces filled with irritation, shock or confusion. This caused him to blush and clear his voice. That certainly woke him up. "S-so uh… You're 19 huh?" He tried to say this calmly, but it ended up shaky and nervous, with a weak smile on his lips. I almost feel bad for embarrassing him like that…almost.

"Yup, I also got a perfect score." I replied, still keeping a cheery tone. He started to shout again, but froze in the spot, which made me giggle. He then took a deep breath and raised his hands to his lips and exhaled, slowly lowering his hands to his chest. I didn't think it would affect him this much.

"That's uh… That's great. That's really great…" He got up and started to walk to the door "I've gotta go…see you." He then quickly walked to the door and left. I hope that didn't affect him too badly… oh well, He'll be fine. I finished the last of my coffee and checked the time on my phone; it was 8:10 AM, 20 minutes before classes started. I decided to go to Crona early, so I went to the sink to wash it, after doing so I placed the mug back where I found it originally and walked out of the break room, and went to Cronas room.

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**Okay. Chapter 5 done. I'm thinking of combining chapter 1 and 2 into one longer chapter, due to how short they are compared to the other chapters. Well anyway, I hope you enjoy and continue to read on as newer chapters are released. Reviews are welcome as always.**


	6. Art

Chapter 6: Art

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I walked down to Cronas room and peered through the window. Crona was still sitting in the same position, in the corner of the bare room. I prepared myself and opened the door. I walked slowly to Crona and bowed down to him "Crona?" I said softly to him. He looked up slightly to look at me. I smiled "Hi." I knelt down on the hard floor next to him, making sure not be too close to him. "I came early. Is that okay with you?" He fidgeted for a little while before answering, his eyes shifting to me and the floor.

"Y…yes." He whispered.

"Alright. So…want do you want to do today?" I asked him grinning I wasn't really expecting an answer. He didn't, instead fidgeting some more, I guess I should make suggestions. "Hmm…how about poetry? Or art?" I suggested smiling with my hands clasped.

"Uhh…" I waited a while until he answered "a-art." My grin grew even wider.

"Perfect! I'll go get some paper and pencils and then we can start!" I stood up and walked to the door, my knees were aching… "I'll just be a second." And with that, I opened the door and walked out to get what I needed.

/

When I walked into the supply room I was somewhat surprised. The entire room was spotless, and everything was positioned neatly, each side perfectly symmetrical. I walked around the room, searching for the supplies that I needed. Finding the paper and pencils didn't take long, as everything was organised. Before I could leave I heard someone outside rambling. "Damn stains! Why must you ruin the perfection of symmetry that is the Shini Centre!? I can't believe this…" I looked out of the window to see kid was scrubbing the walls, making fierce motions with the brush in his hands.

"Uhh…kid?" He didn't notice me calling him, still completely focused on the walls. "Kid!" I raised the volume of my voice, which caught his attention.

"Oh, Maka… I didn't notice you there…" He said, his face went slightly red. "Did you hear that?"

"I think so…what are you doing? Isn't it the cleaner's job to clean the centre?" I asked him, he took his gloves off and placed the brush in a bucket that was filled with soapy water.

"Well, yes but there are these odd stains on the wall and I couldn't take it any longer." He made a gesture as if to say 'look' and when I did I saw these odd greyish stains that started at the bottom and travelled all the way up to the window I was looking out of. What could have made stains like that?

"That _is _odd…" I looked back down to kid.

"I know. What's even odder is that they're completely random and just disappear entirely the next day…" He brushed something I couldn't see of his clothes. "I wanted to hide somewhere and see what was causing them…but my father won't allow me…" When he said this he started to scowl, a fierce look in his eyes that I could see from where I was looking. "I swear if I find out that someone has defiled the Shini centre…" his hand curled into a fist, and was visibly shaking. I couldn't really tell if it was a good or bad thing he had this much respect for his father's building…

"Well uh, I'll leave you to it." I said. Kid relaxed and his hand uncurled, his scowl turning into a faint smile.

"See you soon, Maka. Sorry for disturbing you." Kid said as he put the gloves back on, picking the brush back up from the water and went back to scrubbing the stained wall.

"See you Kid." I closed the window and walked out of the door. So that what kid was like when no one was around…

/

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As I walked down the hall to Cronas room, I heard shouting coming from down the hall, as I walked closer and closer to his door the shouting was louder. Eventually I saw that Cronas door was open I rushed in to see that a young, blue-haired boy was right in front of Crona standing very close to him, shouting things that honestly made no sense. I placed the supplies I had on the floor and ran to the boy, who was still shouting. "H-hey!" I knelt and lightly grabbed the boy's shoulder. He stopped shouting and turned to me. "Why are you here?" The child gave me a self-confident grin.

"I got bored, so I left. The almighty Black Star can't be in a dumb room all day!" he said this while pointing to himself and grinning. God, even when he wasn't shouting this kid was loud…

"N-no…why are you here in _this_ room?" I asked him, pointing down to the floor.

"Well, I was looking around this boring place and I saw this kid just sitting there, acting all miserable. So I decided to cheer him up by telling stories of my greatness!" He said this proudly like he had done an incredible act, but when I looked at Crona; his face was buried deep between his legs and was gripping his pink, messy hair tightly, as if he was ready to pull it out. I sighed; all he did was make things worse.

"Thanks but… you really shouldn't be here. You're going to get into a lot of trouble if someone finds you. And I'm sure the mighty Black star wouldn't want that." I said calmly. I couldn't be too mad at him; he _was _trying to be nice. Even if all he did was scare the daylights out of him.

"Tch…Fine. I'll go back…" He said this while pouting, looking at me with disappointed eyes. "It won't be hard anyway." Mumbling some rude word that he probably shouldn't have known, he then sprinted out of the door.

"Hey! Don't run!" I walked over the door to see where he went, but he was already gone. I was surprised over how fast he was. I then immediately focused my attention to Crona, who was still panicking over the loud-mouthed boy who had charged into his room. I slowly walked up to Crona and sat down next to him, his breathing was uneven and hasty.

"Crona, its fine. He's gone now." I said to him, my voice was as soft and quiet as possible. He then raised his head slightly and turned slightly in my direction. His grey eyes were constantly shifting as if to make sure there were only two people in the room, his pupils. To make sure that he felt safe, I got up and closed the door. I noticed the paper and pencils that I had placed to deal with the blue-haired boy who had run into here. I picked them up and walked back to Crona, kneeling down next to him. "See? It's only us two, and I'll never even think about harming you." I assured him cheerily. He let go of his hair and let them fall to the floor. His breathing started to steady and slow down. "I got the stuff we need, do you still want to do it." I got a sheet of paper, placed it on a clipboard and offered it to him with a pencil. It took a while, but he eventually slowly reached out, his hand trembling. Eventually he grabbed hold of it. "I'll draw something too and we can show each other after we've finished, is that okay with you?"

"Err…" he fidgeted a bit. "O... okay" He whispered.

"Great let's get started!" I got a piece of paper with a drawing board and was going to start drawing, but noticed Crona was looking at me. It took me awhile to realise that he was looking at me because he didn't know what to draw. "Just…Draw whatever you want to draw. Okay?" He nodded slightly, showing that he understood. "Alright, let's start drawing then!" I Started to draw, Crona starting to soon afterwards.

/

/

I had finished drawing long before Crona had, and was sitting on his bed, waiting for him to finish. I had no idea how he could sit on that hard floor all day. Looking at the picture I drew, it was pretty average. It was a beach, with parasols dotting the sand despite their being no people. The water had wave breakers scattered around. "Umm…" I turned around to see Crona looking at me with nervous eyes; He must have finally finished.

"Done?" I asked him, starting to stand up from the bed. He nodded in response. Smiling, I walked over to him and knelt on the hard wooden floor next to him "Alright, let's swap now." I said while offering him the sheet of paper I had drawn on. He reached out to take it, but then recoiled, causing me to frown slightly. "What's wrong?" I asked in a soft tone. He looked at his picture and then to me again. "Are you worried that I won't like it?" I asked him. In response, he looked down like he had done something wrong. "You shouldn't be, this is just an activity, and you don't have to worry about it being good. See?" I turned the paper I was holding around so Crona could see my mediocre drawing skills. "You have nothing to be ashamed about…so can I please see your picture?" Crona looked up to take a look at the picture I drew. Eventually he grabbed hold of the paper that he had drawn on and slowly offered it to me, his hand trembling again. I gently took the picture to look at it. It was…odd, to say the least. I couldn't really make out what it was supposed to be, but my guess was that it was a forest, due to a large amount objects that I assumed were trees, above the trees were dots, which I could only assume were stars. There was also a crescent moon, but it had a face and was drooling. It was poorly drawn and I didn't understand it…but I loved everything about it. "It's…It's…" I couldn't think of words to properly describe it. When I looked back at Crona, he was fidgeting nervously and looking at me, waiting for me to properly answer. Eventually I finally thought of something to say. "It's absolutely wonderful!" When these words let my mouth, Cronas eyes grew wide, and his face filled with shock.

"R-R-Really!?" He said louder than usual but still somewhat quite. His face hadn't change.

"Of course!" I said cheerfully with a smile on my face. After hearing this, Crona quickly placed his head between his legs, but before he did, I noticed him smile over what I just said, which caused my smile to grow wider. I checked the time using my phone, and noticed that it was time to leave. "Sorry but I'm going to have to go now." I got up and started to walk out the door. "Bye." I said while giving a small wave.

"B…bye…" Crona said, it was barely loud enough for me to hear it. When I did hear it though, my smile grew even wider.

/

/

**Alright, Chapter 6 done. Please review.**


	7. Anger

Chapter 7: Anger

As I was walking out of the Shini centre I was called by a familiar voice "Ms Albarn." I turned to see that it was who was calling my name, beside him was an unfamiliar woman, who had orange-blonde hair, and an eye that matched her hair, the other was covered by an eyepatch. "Can I talk to you"?

"Yes, of course!" I said happily. I couldn't really say no could I? I walked up to Dr Stein and the woman he was with.

"I want you to meet Ms Mjolnir; she's one of oldest and best caretaker In the centre." He informed me. I noticed that she cringed slightly when he said 'oldest'. I didn't get why, she didn't seem that old.

"Hello, I'm Ms Albarn, it's a pleasure to meet you!" I greeted the woman with a warm smile on my face while offering hand shake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too!" She said merrily while shaking my hand, I don't know why but her eye patch was weird to me. A bunch of scenarios entered my head on how she lost her other eye. I didn't dare ask however. "I heard that you working with Crona?" She asked.

"Yeah, it's going greatly!" I replied

"That's good! I used to work for him but…it didn't work out." She said somewhat bitterly, not at me, but at herself as if she had failed, but her attitude went right back to being merry again. "Now I mainly help the newcomers and substitute when they can't make it." She said while adjusting her hair so it wasn't in her face. "Enough about me though, what about you? Have you made much progress?" She asked me.

"Well, he talking, but it's only one word and it's only in response to what I say to him." I said somewhat nervously.

"That's great!" She said, he hands clasped at her chest. "It took me a few days for him to even react to me!"

"R-really, a few days? Wow…" I said in disbelief. Was I really doing that well?

"Yes! You're very special you know!" When I heard this, I looked away slightly out of embarrassment, my face started to warm up. "Well, I should get going now. It was nice meeting you!"

"Nice meeting you too!" I said. After shaking hands again, she walked out of the building.

"Sorry for wasting some of your time, I just wanted you to meet her." Stein said. I turned to him.

"Don't be, it was a pleasure to meet her." I said joyfully.

"She's a bit…desperate, but she's excellent at what she does." Stein said while adjusting his glasses, causing the light to reflect off them, giving him a cold, frightening look. No wonder soul was so terrified of him…

"Well, I'll get going now, I'll see you tomorrow Dr Stein." I said.

"See you tomorrow, Ma Albarn. Keep up the good work." He replied. We shook hands and I walked out of the centre and headed to the bus stop. I still can't believe it…am I really doing that well? Was I doing something different or what? My thoughts were interrupted when I notice Soul walking in front of me.

"Hey, Soul!" I called him, but he didn't even take notice of me and continued walking. Did he have headphones in or something? I jogged up to him "Soul!" I said, rather loud for how close I was to him…but he still didn't react. What was he doing? I could easily tell that he didn't have any headphones in and could easily hear me. He had to be joking. "Soul, quit joking…" I said while giggling slightly, reaching out to touch his shoulder, as soon as I did touch him though he did something that completely soiled my mood. He turned around to look at me. That's _all_ he did, but the look he gave me with his red eyes was cold and sharp as if I had done something horrible. He then turned around and let out a small sigh, and continued to walk. "S-Soul, What's wrong?" I asked innocently.

"Just leave me the hell alone, okay!?" Soul said angrily. I didn't even try to call him again when he walked away from me, but simply walked to the bus stop and waited for it. The entire ride I was thinking. What had I done to be make soul so furious with me?

/

When I walked to my house, I noticed the door was open, which caused me to sprint inside. I have no idea why, I'm know what was happening, it was most likely spirit. Sure enough, I was right. My father, spirit was drunk and rummaging through every nook and cranny. He wasn't as drunk as yesterday, but if anything that made it worse. Because when he wasn't so drunk he could barely walk, he was ruining the house in a furious state. "Where is it!? WHERE THE HELL IS IT!?" He shouted. I knew what he was looking for; it was anything that was my mothers, or anything that reminded him of her. I quietly walked up the stairs so he wouldn't notice me; I walked to my room and went to the stand next to my bed. I sighed out of relief when I saw it was still there. It was a picture of me, my mother, and spirit in a carnival, with spirit holding a large teddy bear that he had won. It's the last picture I have of her. It's my fault really, I threw most of them away when I knew she wasn't coming back, but I kept this one because we all looked so happy together. I looked at the open door because I heard spirit walking upstairs to his room, as my room is next door to his. Luckily he just walked right past. I quickly hid it at the top shelf of my closet. He hardly ever checked my room anyway. "THERE! IT'S RIGHT THERE!" I heard him shout from his room. Out of instinct I ran to his room and saw that he was carrying a shirt, while it was one of his, my mother used to wear it sometimes. I noticed Spirit had a lighter in his hand…

"Don't!" I said desperately, spirit looked up at me, his face red from anger.

"Maka? When did-" he quickly cut himself off, and got even more angry from what I had said. "I'm getting rid of everything, Maka! Watch." He turned on the lighter and let the shirt touch the flame, causing it to be engulfed. He dropped in on the floor and started to stamp on it. Eventually the flames fizzled and disappeared completely, leaving nothing but a burnt, crumpled mess that didn't even resemble a shirt anymore. I just looked at it… another memory…destroyed. Spirit was laughing bitterly about it. "See!? It'll be like she never existed!" Spirit said merrily, losing his balance slightly. How could he say that? Did he think that he could just forget about her and we could be a happy family again? I didn't want to be in my house anymore. I didn't want to be with my drunken father as he wrecked the house looking for my mother's leftovers just so he can destroy it. So I left, I knew I shouldn't have, what if he started a fire and it got out of control? But at the time I never thought about that, and walked out the house, leaving Spirit to do whatever he was going to do.

/

I was at a café with a cup of coffee in my hand. I didn't catch the name of the place, but it had this stupid mascot with a weird nose, a cane longer than itself and a tacky hat, it honestly annoyed me just looking at it. The guy who served me was even worse. He absolutely loved that mascot and wouldn't shut up about it; he also got my order wrong! How can get coffee wrong!? And the music! Oh god the music! Granted, he _did_ apologise and give me a free one, plus it was the closest thing to my house so I guess I shouldn't complain too much. I can't believe how this day went, it was good at first, but Soul acting like that and Spirit being drunk like that…

"Hi!" I heard a somewhat unfamiliar voice behind me, when I turned I saw it was that woman who had brought Spirit home. Her clothes weren't a skimpy as last time, but it still pretty skimpy.

"It was...uh…" She was trying to remember my name. Didn't we just meet yesterday? How could she forget already?

"Maka." I informed her coldly, not out of meanness, but I wasn't really in the mood. "You're Blair, aren't you?"

"Oh Yeah that's it, Maka! Sorry for forgetting, I've had a busy day." She said sitting down on the chair in front of me, placing her cup on the wooden table. "From the looks of it, you've had one as well."

"Today was fine, just when I got home." I decided not talk about Soul; I was still trying to wrap my head around what exactly happened. "My dad, he's drunk and is wrecking the house to find something… I decided to leave him to it." I said, twirling some of my hair around my finger. I left out the part where my father burnt a t-shirt; I didn't want her to worry. "What are you doing her anyway? This doesn't look like the sort of place you would come to…" She took a sip from her cup.

"Well, my roommate was acting weird and when I asked what was wrong, I was kicked out…" She said with a slight sad tone in her voice, while tracing the rim of the cup with her finger. "This was the only place I could think of. I mean how could you get _that_ out of your head?" She pointed up at the roof, which had that cringe worthy mascot on the front.

"Yeah, well that and the song." I said smirking. "Oh Excalibur! Excalibur!" I sang, making a gesture like I was at an opera. This would have been embarrassing if we weren't the only people here, but the only other living being was that guy who served me, and when I looked in his direction, he looked furious, his face red and everything as if I had insulted a family member. Blair started to laugh and had trouble stopping.

"Th..that..was so…SILLY! HE HAHA HA I CAN'T BREATH!" She said while still laughing. Her laugh must have been contagious, because I started to laugh too. Forgetting that eventually I would have to go back home.

/

We talked for a while, mainly about our jobs. She said that she was a waitress, I was slightly surprised. From how she looked and the outfit she wore when she brought Spirit home, I would have assumed she was a pole dancer.

"Well, I should be going now. Hopefully my roommate has calmed down." Blair said as she got up from her seat, it was almost night-time by now. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah…See you soon." I said, somewhat disappointed. It was nice talking to someone so casually, but it's not like I could have gone lived with her right? Blair nodded and started to walk off in the opposite direction to my home, leaving a note for the coffee. Doing the same thing, I started to walk back home. Hoping I wouldn't come back to a house with broken windows.

When I entered my house I noticed the lights were off in every room apart from the living room, when I came to see why Spirit was out cold, half on the sofa and half and the floor with a bottle of beer in his hand. Sighing, I took the beer bottle and tried to properly position him on the sofa. "Goodnight Spirit." I said after finally managing to get him fully on the sofa. I checked around the house to see if there was any damage. Luckily there wasn't, just a broken vase and a few shattered plates. After cleaning up the mess he did, I went up to my room to get changed for bed. Then I remembered the picture! I had to make sure the picture was still on the wardrobe! I quickly got up to check if it was still there. Luckily it was, thank goodness! I grabbed the picture and placed it on my bed side stand and went into my bed, Falling asleep while still looking at the happy family in the picture.

/

/

**Okay then, Chapter 7 done! Again, please review I'm really Grateful for them.**


	8. Crush

Chapter 8: third day.

I woke up at 6: Am; I shouldn't have had that coffee last night. I got up, put on a clean set of clothes, and walked downstairs. I was ready to leave until I heard a very loud growl leave my stomach, I didn't notice before but I was extremely hungry! I went into the kitchen to find something to eat, I should probably just get something small, I was hungry but at the same time didn't really have an appetite, I decided just to get some corn flakes, mainly because that seemed to be the last cereal box. "Maka…" I heard Spirit groan, his voiced muffled from being on the sofa. I decided to ignore him. From his voice he sounded like he was still hung-over. "MAKA!" He shouted, his voice no longer muffled. Sighing I went over to the living room where he was lazily lying on the sofa.

"Yes dad?" I asked him, I he still had this horrible stench of alcohol.

"Ahh Honey there you are… can you just-just… turn the lights off please?" He said, lightly gripping his head. "My head feels like it's about to burst…"

"I'm sorry but I have to get ready for work…" I said, rubbing some creases from my clothes. "And you should be too, go on, have a shower and get dressed in some clean clothes." He just grumbled at this…honestly sometimes it feels like my job is 24/7… Eventually he got up lazily and slowly walked up to his room. I went back to the kitchen and grabbed the box of corn flakes and a bowl. I poured the flakes into the bowl and some milk, grabbed a spoon from the counter draw and sat down, placing the bowl of corn flakes on the table. I grabbed the spoon and scooped up some corn flakes and milk and placed it in my mouth, and immediately regretted it. The milk, the flakes…all of it had gone off, _really_ off. I resisted the urge to spit it out all over the table and instead spat it out in the bowl, quickly ran to the sink and poured the bowls contents out, leaving a white and orange mess in the sink. I grabbed a glass and filled it with water from the tap. I then gulped it down, letting the water clean my mouth from that disgusting breakfast. Looks like I have 2 new things to do today…

/

I reached the Shini centre at 6: 35 Am, I was still kind of hungry, but I got some energy bars at a shop before getting on the bus, they'll keep me for the day at least. As I was walking to the front doors I noticed someone watching me, but when I turned no one was there…was I going insane? My thoughts were cut off by someone calling me."Maka!" I turned to see it was soul, running up to me.

"What is it?" I asked him coldly, Soul scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry f-for… that thing yesterday… it wasn't cool of me…" He said, somewhat embarrassed. I could see that from his face it was genuine.

"What did I do to anger you anyway?" I asked him, genuinely curious.

"It wasn't you, just...something happened and let's just leave it at that…" He replied.

"Okay then…Apology accepted." I said with a smile on my face, he quickly gained composure and smiled back. I didn't see a reason to go on about it if affected him that much. We then both walked into the Shini centre together

"Sorry, excuse me…" A blonde haired woman said. I quickly moved out the way so she could leave. I then noticed 2 things; Mr Shini wasn't here, I don't really know why but I was expecting him to greet me again. And then there was Kid, who was looking at the woman who just passed with puppy-dog eyes and a smile on his face.

"Hi kid." I said, walking to him and raising the volume of my voice so he could hear me. He seemed to exit that trace he was in and reacted with a wave.

"Hello Maka, it's good to…" He stopped mid-sentence, staring at soul who was standing next to me. When I turned to soul he looked annoyed. Had they not met?

"Uhh… Soul Evans, Kid Shini. Kid Shini, Soul Evans." I said, making a gesture.

"Uh…sup? Soul said awkwardly, kid was still staring at him.

"How odd…" Kid said. "You have most of the attributes of an albino…yet you have a dark skin complexion." Kid stuck two fingers from each hand, kind of like a double peace symbol and started to move them. "Tell me… how well can you see these? Tell me when they start to become blurry." When he said this, soul started to look more annoyed…now that I took a good look at him, it _was_ kinda odd. He had white hair and red eyes…but his skin was dark, almost like a tan.

"I can see perfectly fine, alright!?" Soul said aggressively, kid looked shocked for like a second, and then sighed.

"I apologise…curiosity got the better of me…" Kid said, somewhat embarrassed.

"It's fine." Soul informed him, Kid calmed down and smiled.

"So kid… who was that girl?" I asked him, he suddenly became very flustered and his face went red.

"S-she's a..um er oh dear…" Kid didn't really know what to say, and stuttered allot.

"C'mon…" Soul said putting a hand on his head. "Spit it out already, we ain't gonna mock you." Eventually, kid calmed down and sighed.

"She's um… Elizabeth Thompson. Her sister goes here, Patricia I think she's called…" Kid informed us. Soul cringed when he heard the name.

"So Elizabeth huh…that's…great, she's quite hot." Soul said, this made Kids face go even redder.

"No! It isn't like that! I mean…she does have perfectly symmetrical hair…and face….and…" His face went even redder (I didn't think that was possible…) and shook his head. "N…No It isn't like that at all! It isn't just about her looks she A really, really lovely person!"

"Calm down kid, take deep breaths…" I said, Kid did what I asked and calmed down. "So…have you asked her out yet?"

"N..no…" Kid said sadly, adjusting his hair slightly. "I'm afraid my father won't approve of it…"

"Your dad!? He's like the jolliest person I know!" Soul snickered. "Of course he'll approve!"

"You think so?" Kid asked him, looking away nervously.

"I _know _so!" Soul replied. This seemed to give kid confidence as a wide smile started to spread across his face.

"Alright…I will! I will ask her!" Kid said, raising his voice out of excitement. I and soul looked at each other. People were starting to look at him now…

"Well what are you waiting for?" I asked him. "Go and find her then ask her out!" Kid turned to me.

"What!? Not now!" Kid said. "I have to think about what I'm going to say!" Me and soul looked at each other again and sighed in unison.

"Well, we'll leave you to it." I said to him. "See you later."

"See you later…and thank you." Kid said, a warm smile on his face. Me and Soul began to walk to the break room "What do I say? Oh I don't know I don't know…" I could hear kid talking to himself. I giggled a bit. It's cute, him getting so excited over this.

/

"Man...That kid guy is crazy…" Soul said his hands in his pockets.

"Yeah, a complete oddball." I said. "But he's also really nice. Plus he _is_ right We were about to walk past Dr steins office when the door swung open and I heard a loud crash, which made both me and soul jump back. I looked down to see Dr Stein, sitting on a chair even though it was knocked over.

"Oh, thank goodness it's was you Ms Albarn." Stein said, still sitting on the knocked over chair. "I need to talk to you about Crona." He got up and placed the chair back up. Soul let out a small sigh.

"Well, I'll get going now. See you Maka." Soul said as he started to walk away.

"See you soul." I replied while waving. I then turned my attention to Dr Stein. "What is it?" He adjusted his glasses and cleaned himself up a bit.

"Well…You've been making such great progress with Crona…so I want you to do something…" He informed me. I was wondering. What did he want me to do?

"Okay, I understand…what is it you want me to do?" I asked him politely.

"You don't _have_ to do it… You _are _Cronas Caretaker you decide what's best for him…" He said, still keeping his stoic demeanour. "But I want you to get Crona to walk…" I was mildly shocked. I know that might sound weird, but this was _Crona_. The same boy who could barely look at someone, has so far said little more than a few words and panicked when someone started to shout.

"I-I'm sorry!?" I said, still somewhat shocked.

"I know how much it is to ask of you and like I said you don't have to do it but I want you to try, it doesn't have to be far, his bed will do. I just want to see if you can get him out of that 'safe zone' of his..." He said…it was weird. While he still had an emotionless face and his voice was cold and also emotionless...it was almost as if he was pleading me to do it. I thought about it for a while, and then reached a conclusion.

"Okay…I'll do it." I answered. "But I'm not promising anything." His faced lit up and he smiled…he was still kind of creepy though.

"That's wonderful! I wish you the best of luck." He said, clasping my hands. It was kind of awkward…

/

/

**Chapter 5 done. Sorry it's a bit shorter than the other chapters but I hope it'll do, and yeah… Kid X Liz.**


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